Editorâs note: This is the second of a two-part editorial. The first part appeared Monday. The sudden curtailing of admissions to state mental hospitals sent a âshock waveâ through the entire system, said state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta. That wave is expected to spread to the law enforcement system and exacerbate an already difficult relationship between policing and mental health. Unfortunately, many patients enter the mental health system through the doors of local police and sheriffâs departments â often literally. When people experience a crisis so severe that it endangers themselves or others, law enforcement often is called. And if hospital beds canât be found for these crisis patients, what is the alternative?